Country duo Dan + Shay released their second full length album this month, Obsessed, on Warner Music Nashville and we sat down with the guys to find out a little bit more about how this record was made.
Nashville Lifestyles (NL): You all co-wrote most of the tracks on Obsessed, can you tell a story about one in particular?
Dan (D): I'll choose to tell this story because our current single, "From the Ground Up," is the most personal and special song we've ever written. I was driving back from my grandfather's funeral in Ohiowe weren't even planning on writing a song that night but we went over to our buddy Chris DeStefano's house to record vocals on another song. Shay's grandfather was in the hospital at the time so it was a super emotional couple of days and we just got to talking. Literally we weren't even trying to write a song, we were just sharing stories about our grandparents. They were both married for over 65 years and that's craaaazy to think about. That kind of love story is so rare these days. An hour and a half later the song had written itself.
It's a good representation of the rest of the record. We feel like we've stepped up our songwriting chops and take it to the next level. Dan and Shay 2.0.
NL: And you know it's going to be the song they're playing at every wedding from now until forever, right?
Shay (S): It's a really cool thing, that's such a personal moment in people's lives. You'll always remember the first dance song, so for people to trust us with thatthat honoris a pretty big deal to us. It's a pretty cool deal to be part of someone's life like that.
NL: You let the fans basically title this album, taking from their obsession with you guys and your music, so what are you currently obsessed with?
S: I'm obsessed with pizza for sure.
D: I'm obsessed with coffee! I have a whole thing: a hand grinder, I use a clever dripper at my house… It's like a 30 minute process to make my cup of coffee, but it's therapeutic for me. I'll go get some good single origin beans somewhere local and grind them up by hand everyday. I made a snap chat... I was trying to make coffee with one hand while doing the tutorial, but…
S: Everyone on our bus is a little bit of a coffee snob, not in a bad way. I'm not a coffee expert like everyone else; I do like the smell, but I'm too impatient to wait on the pour over thing. That's a whole lot of work.
NL: The title track 'Obsessed” is full of jazzy horns and fun vocals was it written specifically for this record?
S: We saw fans tweeting at us saying 'I'm #obsessed with Dan and Shay,” and ended up putting that in our notes section of our phone. It was a long day at a writers retreat and we pulled up that title since our fans used that wording a lot. We thought it was a cool title and after we'd written the song it was a natural progression to becoming the album name. It's simple and fan driven.
NL: Dan, you co-produced this album how did it compare to your producing work on the first record Where it All Began?
D: My philosophy as a producer is to do everything you can to support the lead vocal because that's what the listener focuses in on. On this record we were so fortunate to be working with the best players in the worldNearsie on the drums, Jimmie Lee Sloas on bass, Derek Wells on guitar, Bryan Sutton on acoustic guitar/mandolin, Gordon Moat on keys. We called in a horn section, we got Jim Horn to lead the bandgreat name for a horn guy[laughs]. He's the pioneer, he's the guy! He's played with The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Elvisit's insane. He played the saxophone solo on this song and led the band... we didn't have to do much as producers. We just pressed record and let it happen.
We didn't follow any rules on that song, we just went for it and had a blast. Instead of thinking 'Ok, radio needs it to be 3 minutes and 7 seconds to fit the formula,” we just let Shay rock and sing this one-take crazy scat vocal thing at the end. There's some magic in it and you can hear it. That's one of the best vocal performances I've ever heard. I'm just proud to say I was the one to pressed record at the right time. It'd be cool to play live with a big band sometime. Maybe we'll go to NOLA...
NL: You're on tour this summer with Darius Rucker (Good for a Good Time). Any thoughts about taking the new album on the road?
S: It's going to be fun to be out on tour with him, he's just a great guy,and a great hang. He personally asked us to go on this tour with him and we're like, 'Of course, we'd love to do that.” It made sense and we're out with one of our label mates Michael Ray as well, love that guy. We're stoked to get out there since our album comes out the first day of the tourit'll be cool to play some new music.
There are quite a few we haven't played live, but there was one song in particular called "Sway" on the album that we'd played it a couple times acoustically for VIP meet & greets and things. There were actually a couple people who got tattoos of some of the lyrics. When we were picking songs for the album we kind of had to put that one on there. This girl got a freakin' tattoo, we can't let her down! She would've been devastated.
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NL: Your fans had a lot ot do with this record, tell us more about them.
D: Our fans are incredible, we're so lucky to have them. They're so passionate and so dedicated. We've seen people go with sidewalk chalk outside of Bridgestone Arena at CMA fest promoting our music. That's so cool! We like to have a two way relationship with them and be able to get feedback from our fans; they're vocal about what they like and don't like. 'Nothing Like You,” the last single onWhere it All Began, was our first number one and our fans were the ones who voiced that and picked it. They were unanimously talking about it on social media and we're like, 'Well, if they like this one the most, they've got to be right.” And that song went number one.
Same go around on this album, people were talking about certain songs so that's how we've been picking the singles. They are the ones listening to the music, buying the music, coming to the shows. We've got to give them what they want, we love our fans! We're super thankful for each and every one of them.
NL: Your video 'Nothin' Like You” was up for a CMT's Video Music Award and promotes something close to your hearts, tell us more.
D: We wanted to make the video and raise awareness about animal rescue because there are a lot of dogs out there who don't have a home. We volunteer at Proverbs 12:10 here in Nashville. It's an awesome foster-based, no-kill shelterjust incredible people who pour their hearts and souls into this thing. The video was fun for us, we got to run around in the mud with dogs all day. There were 43 dogs adopted from that video! The video has millions of views online and was a great chance to be vocal about it. My dogs are both adopted, they come on the bus with us and make our lives a lot better.
Catch Dan and Shay out on the road this summer with Darius Rucker!